Stage 1 — Fix the brief before anyone quotes
A decision is only as good as the question suppliers answered. Write one brief and send the same brief to every supplier. If you change the brief, send the change to everyone.
- Production model and capacity stated as birds placed, hens housed or eggs set per week
- Site, climate design conditions, power and water availability
- Scope boundary: what is in the project, what you supply yourself
- Budget ceiling and the date you need first production
- Who signs off the decision, and what evidence they need
Stage 2 — Choose a procurement route
One turnkey contractor gives you one point of responsibility for design, supply and commissioning, at the price of less visibility into each package. Several package suppliers give you choice per package, but you or your engineer take on the interfaces between them. Neither is better in general; decide based on your in-house engineering capacity and how much interface risk you can carry.
You can contact a manufacturer or contractor directly for either route. HatchMatch is a broker that helps buyers define the brief and compare offers; it is not a manufacturer, contractor or lender, and supplier participation and the number of offers are not guaranteed.
Stage 3 — Pass/fail gates
Gates remove proposals that cannot be accepted whatever their price. Agree them before opening any offer so a low price cannot talk you out of them.
- Covers the full scope in the brief, or prices every exclusion
- Meets the stated capacity and climate design conditions
- Meets local permits, electrical standards and any required certification — verified by you, not stated by the supplier
- Gives a written warranty with defined terms and a named after-sales contact in or near your country
- Offers payment terms you can finance and a delivery date inside your window
Stage 4 — Weighted scoring
Score only proposals that passed every gate. Set the weights before you open the offers, score each criterion 1–5 with a written reason, multiply by the weight and add up. The weights below are an example layout, not a recommendation; change them to fit your project.
Stage 5 — Test the winner and record the decision
Re-run the leading proposal in the farm-cost calculator with worse assumptions: a later start, a higher energy price, lower output. If its payback becomes unacceptable while a runner-up holds up, the scores were measuring the wrong thing. Then write a one-page decision record: proposals received, gates failed, scores with reasons, the stress test result and open items to settle in the contract. It protects the decision when lenders, partners or auditors ask later.
Example scoring sheet (weights set by the buyer before opening offers)
| Criterion | Example weight | What a 5 looks like | Evidence to ask for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total installed cost (landed, installed, commissioned) | 25% | Lowest after pricing every exclusion | Priced scope list against your brief |
| Lifecycle cost (energy, spares, maintenance, 10 years) | 20% | Lowest modelled running cost on your inputs | Rated power per item, spares price list |
| Technical fit (capacity, climate, layout) | 20% | Design matches brief with calculations shown | Ventilation and heat-load calculation, drawings |
| After-sales and warranty | 15% | Local service, stocked spares, clear response terms | Warranty text, service contact, spares location |
| Delivery and commissioning plan | 10% | Dated schedule with installation and training | Schedule, commissioning checklist |
| Commercial terms | 10% | Fits your financing and limits your risk | Payment milestones, Incoterm, penalties |
Weights are illustrative. HatchMatch does not publish supplier scores or rankings.
Decision record checklist
- Brief version that every supplier quoted against
- Route chosen and why
- Proposals received and gates each failed
- Weights agreed before opening, with scores and reasons
- Stress-test result from the farm-cost calculator
- Open items to settle in the contract